The holiday season is just flying by, and I am sure I won't have time to post again between now and Christmas, so I thought I would wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas. This holiday season is so incredibly different than any that I have experienced so far. For me it has almost been like a scene out of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". I keep running into friends and family who have been so dramatically affected by the downturn of the economy (who hasn't?). However they are reacting SO differently then I would have ever anticipated. Just like the Grinch who is surprised that the "Who's" are NOT devastated by losing all of their presents, I have been so surprised at how my friends and family have realized the true meaning of this season (and life for that matter). We all seem to have finally realized that all the "stuff" in our lives really isn't as important as it once seemed. I can't tell you how many people that I have spoken to who have shared stories of losing their jobs, losing their investments, losing their houses, but gaining perspective. Maybe it is just a way of coping with this difficult time, but I for one certainly hope that this lesson that life seems to be teaching all of us right now stays in our heads and our hearts. Life is more than having a 4,000 sqft house with plasma televisions in every room, a Mercedes in the garage, and a Starbucks cup in our hand. It is about having a set of friends and family that are willing to help you out during tough times, who are willing to spend the evening on the front porch watching the kids ride bicycles in the yard rather than getting a babysitter and going out for a night on the town.

I certainly do hope the economy recovers soon, and I hope that the people devastated by this economic crisis can begin to rebuild their life soon. However, more importantly, I hope that we all learn from this time of hardship and reconsider what is most important in our lives. Kiss your kids more often, kiss your spouse more often, and enjoy what life has given you:)

We are so excited to kick off the Communion season this year! We have been fielding calls and emails for weeks regarding when we would have our Communion cards back in stock, AND WE FINALLY GOT THEM!!! Our most popular cards from JP Sherman are back this year, and we are already taking orders. We also have an exclusive line or cards from our own design staff that are available this year, we hope that you enjoy the latest addition to our product lineup. We are adding a lot of new Communion cards this year, and hope to have the most extensive selection of any store this year. In fact, if you see something on another site that you like, call or email us and we will work with that manufacturer to get you that card (and hopefully for less than our competitors).

Communion season is always such a special time of year, and this year we have several family members that are making their First Communion, which makes this year just a little more special. JP Sherman's cards are still some of the most beautiful Communion cards available, I have found it very difficult to find manufacturers that have such a simple and beautiful line of cards. These cards ALWAYS SELL OUT QUICKLY so place your order early to ensure that we can get the cards to you for your event.

Our exclusive line of cards offer you a high quality card and envelope combination at a great price. We want to keep our products affordable while offering the best quality paper and envelopes available. This initial line of Communion cards come on 100# paper with Silver lined envelopes. We offer the cards either blank or printed. Keep an eye out for these and other exclusive card offerings in the months to come!

Everyone needs a break every now and then. In those few free moments I have each week I like to either jump on my bike or take a quick jog. Exercise for me is as much about staying fit as it is about staying sane. I am by no means a fitness freak, drinking health shakes and living at the gym. You are more likely to see me with a Vanilla Latte in my hand. However, when I have the opportunity I do like to get out and clear my mind. Last week I spent Saturday participating in an incredible annual event here in Phoenix, the Iron Girl 5k/10k race. Last year I ran it alone, and ran a personal best. This year I ran the race with my Mom who at 60 years young took first in her age group! This event is something incredibly special to me. The energy of all those women on the course is palpable, and the strength of a common bond among the female athletes is immeasurable.

I did find a company there that I wanted to share with you (I feel like Oprah). They had a booth there, and I ended up purchasing a few of their shirts. The company was founded by two women who had a passion for the outdoors. It sounds like it started off as more of a hobby, but following the death of one of the founder's husband it took on a very different meaning. I love the messages that their products display, their tagline is awesome: Play hard...Take Chances...and Keep Smilin!. I think it captures my take on life, that it is too short to waste on not taking chances. Buying ImpressInPrint.com was the scariest thing I have ever done, and it continues to challenge me emotionally and spiritually everyday. However, I would not do anything different. I know that life's challenges will come regardless of how safe you try and live your life, and that you must prepare yourself mentally to deal with those challenges before they arise. You can certainly close your eyes and hope for the best, but I try and go into things with my eyes wide open to both the possibilities for success as well as the possibilities for failure. I almost forgot to give you the name of the company: Whooha Gear. I am not affiliated with them in any way...so this isn't a paid advertisement:)

The interesting part of being in the Invitation business, is that the holidays that we spend so much time preparing for really culminate for us several weeks before the actual date of the holiday. So while Christmas is a HUGE business time for us, this week really wraps up the holiday sales period and we have to be ready for what's next. So then...what is next? Communion Season! We are busy getting the site ready for the Communion season; adding new products, creating new graphics for the home page, and finding new manufacturers. We have a few new manufacturers this year that will be offering Communion Invitations, Thank You cards, and notecard sets. I promise you will not be dissappointed by the selection!

As always we will be offering JP Sherman Communion Products, they are always a HUGE seller. Order early so that we can make sure to have time to fulfill your order. We also have a new line of cards that are gorgeous, high quality cards. They are not on the site yet, but will be in the next couple of weeks; keep an eye on the homepage in the coming weeks.

So, what are some popular gift ideas for children recieving their First Communion?

I found this beautiful bracelet that uses the birthstone of the recipient. I thought it was a great personal gift that would be something they could keep for years to come.

I thought this frame was a great idea since it allows guests to sign the frame with a special message, it would make a great gift for a boy or a girl

As for Communion Card wording ideas, feel free to contact us for ideas. I have listed just a handful here, but we are always available to help our customers find just the right wording idea for your invitations.

First Communion Wording Ideas:

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The bread of life, the cup of joy, this will be a blessed day

Mr. and Mrs. Capriotti
have the pleasure of inviting you to the
First Communion of their

Daughter, Caitlin

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Mariah will receive the

Sacrament of Holy Communion.

Please join us on February, 14th, 2008

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Feel free to catch one of our operators on LiveHelp or via 1-800-804-1960 for more ideas!

For the next three days (Wednesday through Friday) we are offering a special promotion to those of you following our blog. Use the promotion code THANKS08 when checking out for a 10% discount off your order. The holidays are fast approaching, and many of our manufacturers cannot guarantee holiday delivery....HOWEVER we still have products on our shelves that we can get to you by the holidays. Also think about stamp gift sets, these are available for pre-holiday delivery up until 12/16! These sets allow your gift recipient to order the perfect stamps for themselves, and the set includes gorgeous notepads as well. We have four sets available here, or you can click on the images below to go to two of our sets.

These holiday sets include a gift certificate for a personalized stamp, it can be redeemed for one of our Three Designing Women stamps offered on the site. These beautiful stamps can be used to adorn your Thank You notes, holiday cards, or just about any paper product. The stamps have been repeatedly featured in magazines such as Instyle, Modern Bride, and Better Homes and Garden. I can't imagine a women out there that would not love to recieve one of these gift sets, I am buying them for both friends and family this year.

We are also able to delivery attachable photo cards and a few other products in time for the holidays, so please go online now and place your order. TIME IS RUNNING OUT:)

I almost forgot, I wanted to do a little bragging tonight because I was so proud of my son this weekend. He learned how to ride his bicycle without training wheels! I left my husband at home with the kids in order to do some grocery shopping on Saturday and when I turned into my driveway this weekend I was SHOCKED to see him peddling down to meet me. What a sight, he was so proud of his accomplishment. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out in the front yard watching him and the other neighborhood kids peddle their bikes up and down the block. As much as our world does change, somethings never do, and spending the weekend riding your bike around the neighborhood still looks like as much fun as when I was their age. I am sure it is a mixture of excitement, new found freedom, and the thrill of accomplishing such a tremendous task that isn't matched by many other things outside of learning to ride a bike.

I think the most common request we receive is help finding the correct wording for an invitation. Coming up with the correct wording for an invitation should be an Olympic sport in my opinion; it takes intelligence, grace, and sometimes a lot of practice to come up with just the right thing to say. While we have always offered a Wording Idea database to our customers, we still felt that there was more we could do for our customers. Out goal is to deploy a new version of our wording database by January 2009! This new version will add the ability to search for wording ideas, browse by occasion, and much more! We are also going to be growing our database of wording ideas in the coming months to includes thousands of ideas. Included in this new database will not only be common holidays and events (Christmas, Birthday's, etc.), but also a diverse set of categories for less common or unique events. We are also looking into allowing you to submit your wording ideas to the database. Those ideas will be published along with your name so that you can get the credit.

I always feel very blessed to be part of our customers' special occasions; whether it be a baby's baptism or a 60th birthday party. All of my employees know that while they have many orders to fill, it is yours that is most important to you. Getting the wording and layout just right is very important to us, and we strive to surpass our customers' expectations as often as possible.

The orders I probably stress over the most are those related to the loss of a loved one. During such a difficult time for our customer, I really want to make purchasing sympathy cards or funeral thank you cards as simple and stress free as possible. I was reminded today of how difficult these orders can be, and I thought I would pass along what I have learned.

It is very common to send out small notes of thanks following the funeral for a loved one (don't worry too much about the timing, even if weeks or months have passed). Thank you notes can be sent to those individuals who were involved with the services, attended the services, or just sent their condolences. Many customers have mentioned that sending out Thank you notes was even therapeutic and helped them during the grieving process. These notes can offer you an opportunity to let friends and family know how appreciative you were of their thoughts and prayers during what was a difficult time in your life.

Finding the correct wording for these notes can be daunting, so I thought I would provide a few of the versus that I have seen in the past:

"Thank you for your expression of sympathy; your caring, concern, and support were deeply appreciated"

"Thank you for your prayers and support during our time of grieving."

"Your kind words and warm sentiments helped me during my hour of darkness, thank you for your friendship and support."

"I cannot express my gratitude enough for your prayers and thoughts following the recent loss of [deceased name]. Your friendship and support mean everything to me"

While you are free to borrow the wording from above, I think the goal of this type of Thank you letter is to express your sincere appreciation to friends and family for their support during the funeral services, but more importantly their love and concern throughout your relationship. It is during the most trying times of our lives that we need to reach out to our loved ones and let them know how important they are to us.

Every year I sit down and make a list of who I need to buy holiday gifts for, and every year it seems to get longer and longer. Everybody has a budget, and I am a strong believer that you should not rack up a ton of credit card debt during the holidays just to put presents under the tree. So I thought I would research the topic of etiquette around who you should be shopping for. Now of course there are a few easy ones; your children, your spouse, and your immediate family (parents, brothers and sisters). However, I take the approach of making a deal with my spouse, my sister, and my mother that we should keep our gifts simple, inexpensive, and meaningful. I value their love and companionship MUCH MORE than any gift. My approach with my kids is to have them make a list for Santa to help narrow down the possibilities.

So what about everyone else on the list; nieces and nephews, in-laws, co-workers, your boss, your postal carrier, etc.? There are WAY too many people to list, but I thought I would cover some of the more obvious ones.

Nieces and Nephews: Follow tradition with this one. I think most families would agree that if you see your nieces and nephews at least once a year then you should plan on buying them a gift until they are eighteen-ish. After that, I would say that unless you are in close contact with them, the gift giving can cease.

Brother/Sister in-law: I think they should be treated like your siblings. Find something that let's them know you appreciate them being part of the family, and is meaningful to them without being too expensive. Something that supports their hobby would be a great gift idea.

Mother/Father in-law: Your spouse and you should decide on a gift that comes from your family. My in-laws request that we don't give them gifts other than pictures of the kids or other momentos. Like me, they have reached a point where gifts have little value unless they come from the heart.

Co-workers/Boss: Bring a plate of cookies or some other food item to share during the holiday season.

Mail Carrier: If you have the same mail carrier throughout the year and he/she delivers mail to your residence directly, then I would recommend a small gift of baked goods or a gift card ranging in value from $15-$25.

Landscaper: A gift similar to that which you give your Mail Carrier would be appropriate.

Friends: Friends are like family in my book. I try to find something during the year that reminds me of them, or I think that they would enjoy and find useful. I then stash that away until the holidays, and give it as a holiday gift. I once has an aquaintance who essentially did her holiday shopping year round, finding meaningful gifts for people during her travels and saving them until the holidays.

Friend's Children: This can quickly get out of hand. Not giving gifts to your friends children is acceptable unless you make another agreement. I found that doing a Secret Santa among all my friend's children is a lot of fun, especially if you all get together during the holidays.

As I said, that is just a brief list of people that might show up on your list. Gift giving should be done from the heart, and not just the pocketbook. If you feel that you are just buying a gift because of the etiquette, then maybe you should step back and rethink the purpose of the holiday:)

About Impress In Print

Impress In Print has been selling invitations and stationary for over 10 years! You won't find many online businesses that can say the same. Our company has focused on providing trendy products at great prices, and matching those products with impeccable customer service. This blog is intended to provide our customers with information on wording ideas, thoughts on etiquette, and of course A LOT of products ideas. Please feel free to provide comments, we love to hear from our customers.